Technique

SCREENPRINT PROCESS
I assemble collages made up of layers of photographs I have taken on my travels and on walks in the English countryside, which I sometimes combine with paintings and very occasionally found imagery. I then print the collaged image on a transparency and coat a mesh screen with light sensitive emulsion, which is left to dry in a dark room. When dry, I expose the image onto the screen using an exposure unit and UV light. The black parts of the image block out the light, meaning that the emulsion doesn’t harden on the darker parts of the image. I then take the screen to the washout area, where I wash it to remove any unexposed emulsion, leaving the image on the screen to be printed. I mix paint, and often graphite powder with printing medium to create ink, and I hand pull a squeegee with a rubber blade to push the ink through the mesh on the areas of the exposed image onto paper to create the finished screenprint. I repeat the process of hand pulling the ink through the screen multiple times on different sheets of paper to create an edition of prints. When an image has multiple colours or layers, I also repeat the process multiple times for each different part, and I register each element of the print every time with registration stops or acetate to ensure that it is printed in the same place on every print in the edition.

CELLULOSE TRANSFER PROCESS
Again, my artworks begin as either an analog collage or a digital collage. With a digital collage, it can simply be printed off and transferred as a whole image. When creating them in the cut and paste way, I will cellulose transfer individual parts as I go along or collage a section, scan it in and then print that part off to transfer, building the image up as I go along. I use a laser printer (the toner of a laser print is needed, opposed to a regular inkjet print) to print the image I want to transfer, flipping the image before printing, so that it will transfer the right way round. I then brush celluose thinners onto the paper that I want to transfer the image onto, and wait for it to evaporate slightly. Next I place the laser print, toner side down over the area that I have just coated in thinners so that the toner is in direct contact with the thinners, and then I use a roller to roll over the back of the image, and peel away the laser print to reveal the image transfer. I repeat the process multiple times to create an edition. Cellulose transfer printing isn't a traditional printmaking technique but it can create prints with a similar appearance to etching. I have a step by step guide on How to Cellulose Transfer print on my journal.